


Icy Depths

by Yemi Hikari (Yemi_Hikari)



Series: Christmas at Horseland [2]
Category: Horseland
Genre: Angst, Christmas, Family, Gen, Horseback Riding, Horses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-12-18
Updated: 2014-04-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:55:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25082713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yemi_Hikari/pseuds/Yemi%20Hikari
Summary: Kimberly decides to come back to Horseland for Christmas, among other things. The thing is, Bailey and Will don't know that she is coming, and her appearance stirs up some things the two had pushed aside.
Relationships: Bailey Handler & Original Female Character, Bailey Handler & Will Taggert, Will Taggert & Original Female Character
Series: Christmas at Horseland [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1816600
Kudos: 2
Collections: MinorFandomFest, Platonic Relationships, Siblings





	1. Coming Back to Horseland

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer - I don't own Horseland.

Kimberly sat in the airport with her aunt and uncle, waiting for their plane to arrive to take them to their intended destination. As with other times of the year, the airport was filled with other people bustling to get to their Christmas destinations. The eleven year old kicked her feet back and forth, a pair of bright pink uggs on her feet. Her clothing was all set for the winter up at Horseland.

"Are you excited about getting to see the place again Kimmy?" Her aunt asked, a smile plastered on her face.

"I don't remember the place. I haven't been there since I was four years old Aunt Charlene." The small female reached up to brush her long blond hair away from her blue eyes, the smile not at all fading. "I just wanted to see Will and Bailey for Christmas this year. I don't get to see them very much, as they are very busy with the place, and they don't get to come an visit very often."

"It has been two whole years since you last saw either one of those boys." The male in the group smiled, letting out a deep laugh. "I think things have had a chance to heal, since the accident occurred."

"I don't remember anything about what happened." The small female stopped, glancing around at the other people. "Uncle John promised that he would have a horse ready for me, right?"

"Since you are going to be staying at Horseland now with John and Eva, you might as well have your own horse and begin lessons." The male let out a deep laugh.

"This decision of yours, to live with them is quite a big decision. If you ever feel lonely, you can call. If you feel you made the wrong decision, you can always come back and live with us." Charlene touched the top of the girl's blond head wirh her hand.

"I've liked living with you and Uncle Erik. I miss not being around Will though. Most of my friends at school have had to move because their parents got new jobs too." There was a pause of silence, and then she spoke up again. "You guys can get new jobs and move here too. Then we can be one big happy family."

"We'll honestly think about that Kimmy." Her uncle stated. "Right now isn't the time to be looking for a new job, as there are many people who are looking."

"I think Uncle John would give you a job at Horseland." The blond haired preteen smiled, glancing over at the window, waiting for the plane to get there.

She then pulled out a notebook, which was filled with scribbles and other such things and began to color in the book again. There were pictures of horses, with various colors in their coats. Each horse was stick figures. The head and body were circles, and they had triangular ears. The legs, neck and tail were all lines.

Suddenly, she began to sing her favorite Christmas song. " _Jingle bell, jingle bell rock, dancing and prancing..._ "

"Now boarding for flight two-fifteen. People with children and first class tickets, please board first."


	2. Approaching Holiday

The crisp air at Horseland combined with the smell of straw in the barn, as Sarah worked on shoveling out the stall Scarlet used. As she worked, she hummed a Christmas melody, her mood chipper due to the coming season. Upon finishing, she wiped a hand across her brown, just in time to see Alma coming into the barn.

"I noticed that there aren't any Christmas decorations up around here. I would have thought that this place would look really nice with decorations up." The blond haired girl smiled at her friend, lifting herself up onto the wooden gate.

"Christmas time is rather hard for their family." The Hispanic preteen stated, going into the stall where her horse was located. She began to brush out the mares long and beautiful main. "I still have some memories of how things used to be around here, even though I was pretty young when it occurred. Just a bit of warning, don't ask Will and Bailey about what happened."

The blond haired preteen remained on the gate, letting out a deep sigh. "What happened is that bad?"

"Will is actually more likely to talk to you about it. Bailey..." Alma paused for a few minutes. "Lets just say he's still sensitive about the subject."

"If something pretty bad happened, I get why they don't want to celebrate Christmas." Sarah hopped down, and then went over to see if she could help Alma out.

The other female paused, then glanced up at the barn loft. "Do you want to see some of the decorations? They happen to still be up there, waiting to be used... though I doubt they will be."

The two girls found themselves climbing the wooden ladder, up into the loft where a group of boxes were, and Alma opened up the first one. "This is the stuff for the barn. The rest is up in the attic up in the house."

"These are pretty. A shame that these wreathes are going to waste." The blond preteen picked one of them up.

"Will's mom made a lot of the wreathes that are around the place. Well, would be around the place." Alma stated as they pulled out a few things to get a good look at them. The two females became preoccupied with the Christmas decorations and didn't hear someone coming up the ladder.

"What are the two of you doing?" A young male voice came from behind them, and the two girls turned to see Bailey watching them. As Sarah turned it became rather evident what the two girls had been looking at. Upon seeing the decorations, the boy's face turned a pale, greenish color, and then he simply turned around and began to climb down the wooden ladder.

Suddenly , there was a yell from Will who was apparently near by. "Bailey! Watch your step!" There was a loud thudding sound, and both girls hurried to the edge just in time to see that Bailey had landed on top of his cousin. The blond teen pushed his cousin up quickly and began to dust him off. "Seriously, are you all right?"

"I think so." The dark haired youth stood up, while Will glanced up at Sarah and Alma.

"You don't look so good. I'll take care of Aztec for you." The older boy stated.

"No! I'm fine! I..." Bailey stopped speaking when his cousin raised an eyebrow.

"You look like you're going to throw up. Aunt Eva Marie is going to want to make sure you don't have a temperature." The blond haired teen watched as the younger boy walked off rather moody. He then glanced up, his hands on his hips. "What are you two up to? You made Bailey look like he saw a ghost."

The two girls glanced at each other, and then Alma told the truth. "I was showing Sarah the Christmas decorations."

"You mean the ones my mom made?" Will suddenly was climbing up the ladder, his mood actually cheerful. "I haven't seen those for seven years. No... I take that back, it had to have been eight years, because I didn't get to see them that year."

The boy stepped up and then walked over to the boxes, picking up one of the wreathes. Sarah walked over and sat down next to him. "I'm sorry if I did something wrong."

"You didn't do anything wrong." The teen picked up another item. "My mom was really good at all sorts of handy crafts. The decorations not made by her are made by Aunt Eva."

"Is Bailey going to be all right?" The blond haired female began to put things back into the boxes.

"Don't put them back Sarah. I actually sneak out here sometimes to look at this stuff." Will had a smile on his face, but it was rather obvious that there was a great deal of sadness in his blue eyes. "Despite the fact it was my parents killed in that accident, its Bailey who has the worst memories about what happened."

Alma frowned, glancing at the decorations. "I remember how he was after the accident."

"Then that's why you live with your aunt and uncle and not your actual parents?" The preteen unfamiliar with the story suddenly spoke up.

"We were coming for Christmas that year, my parents and my little sister. A drunk driver hit the car and I don't remember anything until I woke up. My sister lives with another aunt and uncle now. Bailey though, he remembers the accident all to well. He had been out riding, and actually got thrown from the horse when we were hit. He's also the first person to find us."

Will then continued. "It honestly isn't that Bailey hates Christmas, or anything like that. He just doesn't like remembering a lot of the stuff he saw that day, and I can't blame him."

"I'll apologize later then."

"Don't." The teen suddenly shook his head. "Bailey knows you meant no harm, and he likely would rather the subject didn't come up. After taking care of Aztec and Jimber, I'm going with uncle to look at a horse. He wants to know if I think the horse has a good temperament for a rider just starting out."

"That sounds like fun." Alma stated, letting out a laugh.


	3. Painful Memories

The rocks squelched under Bailey's feet as he headed towards the barn with his cousin Will. The chances that one of the girls would be there was actually high, since the winter holidays had come up and none of the girls had said anything about vacationing. When the male preteen and teenager got to the barn, they could hear Sarah and Alma's voices coming from up in the loft.

Excited to greet the two, Bailey hurried over to the ladder and climbed up. He noticed that the two girls were over by some boxes and he spoke up. "What are you two doing?"

The smile on his face faltered as soon as Sarah turned in time for him to see one of the Christmas Wreathes. The Handler boy felt the color leaving his face, and h opened his mouth to say something, but then decided to back away. His mind for some reason felt strange, and he carefully began to back away.

However, as he started down the ladder, he heard that sound in the back of his head, that he heard so many years ago. It was the sound of metal contacting metal with a great deal of force. Unluckily for him, he had a few memory flashes, of the feeling of being thrown of a horse as the sound occurred. And then, there were the flashes of his Aunt and Uncle's bloody faces.

The next thing he knew, he had missed a step and was falling backwards off his ladder, and he felt a level of fear welling up inside him that he hadn't felt since he fell off the horse that one time. Thankfully though, Will caught him under the arms before stumbling backwards himself, both of them landing on the floor without any major injury.

The next thing he knew, his older cousin had managed to send him packing towards the house, his face still pale from the entire memory. He got to the house, just in time for his mother to swoop onto him, and wrap her arms around his shoulders. "Merry Christmas."

"Oh..." The boy stated, normally not minding the greeting. It was simply those decorations that had the knack of setting off certain things he didn't want to think about.

Mrs. Handler then pushed him away, a frown on her face. "Bailey... are you filling all right?"

"Yes... no..." Two blue eyes looked at her, as the boy frowned.

A gentle hand reached up as his mother gave him a worried look. "You don't have a temperature. It is as if you've seen..." The woman paused for a few seconds. "I was going to say it is as if you've seen a ghost."

"You might say that." The boy stated, heading into where the students would stop and eat their lunches, sitting down at one of the tables to place his head into his hands. His mother walked over and placed one of those gentle hands on his shoulder.

"What happened?"

The soft voice was somewhat calming, and he took a deep breath. "Don't get mad at Alma. She was just showing Sarah all of the decorations. She probably thought she would hear me coming up the ladder and would have some forewarning. Girls like that kind of stuff. I guess."

The twelve year old boy placed his head down, letting out a deep sigh as he did so. His mother spoke calmly. "You remembered what happened to your Aunt and Uncle, didn't you?"

"I just wish I could remember their faces without seeing them bloodied like that." The boy stated. "I wish I couldn't remember that sound either."

"You're really tense. I don't think you should ride horses today." His mother headed off to the kitchen. "I'll get you something warm to drink."

The hot chocolate she brought him simply sat there, becoming cold as he tried to forget the images that kept surfacing up. However, the voices of the group of girls coming in to get something warm themselves to drink suddenly came to his ears, and he raised up his head to see that all five of the girls he normally hung out with were approaching.

Sarah walked over to the counter and brought back and new cup of hot chocolate and put it beside Bailey's hand. "I am sorry about earlier."

"It is all right. At least, I think it is." The boy picked up the drink.

As he tried taking a sip, Chloe and Zoey suddenly smiled at him, both speaking up at the same time. "Merry Christmas Bailey."

The hot liquid suddenly went down the wrong side of his throat, causing him to suddenly turn red in the face, chocking slightly as he set down the cup. The twins began to argue about some sort of agreement the two of them had, about who would be able to wish Bailey a Merry Christmas first. The boy simply stood up. "Look you two. I'm really not in a Christmas mood right now. I'll see the two of you later."

The twelve year old then got up and left, heading up the stairs. He could hear Chloe berating Sarah about the whole thing. "What did you do to him, to make him act this way?"

"I..." Sarah looked at the two of the girls, frowning as she did so.

"Sarah didn't do anything wrong. Will said so all ready." Alma stated flat out, her accent peeking due to the fact she didn't like to see her friends attacked.

"If she didn't do anything, then why is he upset?" Zoe's words spat out.

"I'm unfortunately having to agree with them here. Bailey doesn't usually act like this." Molly glanced in the direction their friend had gone. "It also looks like he went up to the family area, rather then outside to where the horses were."

"Bailey just needs some time alone, like always." Alma let out a deep sigh. "Its a family thing. I suggest talking to Will about it."

"Unfortunately, Will just left with Mr. Handler to go look at some dumb horse." Chloe bemoaned.


	4. Will's Pick

Will left Alma and Sarah up in the loft looking at the old decorations. As he climbed down the ladder, he couldn't help but think about how nice it would be if they could decorate for Christmas this year. He let out a deep sigh once he reached the bottom. "No... couldn't do that to Bailey."

The boy turned towards the entrance of the barn and headed back to his other duties. He quickly turned to his right after going through the large doorway and bumped into his uncle, startling as he did so. The man smiled at him. "Will. Would you come and look at a horse with me?"

"A horse?" The blond haired teen blinked a couple of times. "Why are we going to look at a horse?"

"Someone asked me to look at a horse for an eleven year old girl so she can start riding lessons. Actually, it wouldn't be a bad idea if you taught her."

"Whose the girl?" Will frowned at the man.

"Let's go and look at the horse first." The answer from his uncle caused him to let out a deep sigh before he headed after the man to the truck. The twins however seemed to notice that they were leaving.

Zoey frowned at the two. "You're taking off Will?"

"I have some things to do. My aunt and Alma's dad are here, so they can take care of things while we're gone." The boy opened the door and got up into the truck, noting that the trailer was already hitched up and ready to go. He glanced back in the mirror. "So, are we going to be bringing the horse back?"

"Only if you approve. If you don't we'll just need to look for another horse."

This statement from his uncle caused Will to suddenly frown, before looking out the window. "I don't know why my decision is so important this time. You always have final say."

"This time you have final say."

"You trust my judgment that much?"

Will's uncle let out a laugh. "I've always trusted your judgment. I let you pick out Aztec did I not?"

"True." The blond haired boy continued to stare out the window as a soft snow fell. "Did the weather say anything about a snow storm?"

"The weather man said something about a slight chance for snow, but no really nasty weather at this point. Which is good, because I want you to see this horse and decide if it is suitable for a beginning rider."

The truck soon turned into the gravely path into a particular ranch, the gravel grinding under the truck wheels. They got out of the truck and Will saw the beautiful pinto mare stomping it's foot onto the ground before heading over to the fence to be greeted. The blond haired teen walked over and petted the horses head, stroking the main. "Well, she has a very nice personality and she doesn't seem overly hyper. Well, she does have energy but it doesn't seem like she is the type to be nervous. I'll need to watch her some more." The boy leaned against the fence as the person who owned the place came out and walked the horse through it's paces. "Yes. The horse is pretty good. I would pick her out for a younger writer to start learning with."

"That's good. We'll be getting here then."

Will frowned as his father went over to talk to the owner of the place. When his uncle came back he spoke his mind. "Hey... I was thinking... you had the horse picked out the whole time and it would have been a yes no matter what, right?"

"Well... yes. But your approval still matters believe it or not."

"What I don't understand is why we're purchasing a horse specifically for teaching younger students. All the students bring their own or arrange to borrow from another rider. We can't afford a scholarship."

"It's not for a scholarship." Will's uncle went over to the back of the trailer and put the end down. The sound of the horse being brought over was heard, and then the sounds of the hooves going up the metal was heard. "It's rather a surprise. There is another place that we need to stop before we go back to Horseland."

"Am I going to like the surprise?"

"Well, I think that you will like the surprise. It's kind of an early surprise for Christmas."

Will stopped short, half way into the trunk. "Wait... Bailey isn't going to like that. He hasn't wanted anything to do with Christmas since..." The boy paused. "Wait... is _she_ coming?"

"Do you think I can answer you even if you're right?" Will's uncle let out a laugh.

"But _what_ about Bailey."

"Bailey should be fine."

"You don't know if Bailey will be fine or not. You're just hoping that he'll be fine. Even if she isn't coming there is the fact you're _thinking_ of celebrating Christmas. Actually, I don't think Bailey will be happy. I'm lucky that I can't remember what happened that day, but Bailey more then remembers. He still wakes up sometimes with nightmares about what happened, _particularly_ this time of year."

His uncle sat down in the cab of the car. "Bailey's mother and I know very well that he's had trouble with this time of year. We've let him be for a long time, but we don't think it is helping him. On top of that..." The man stopped short. "Even if we decided to avoid celebrating Christmas the subject of what happened that year isn't something we can get away with not talking about or bringing up around him."

Will leaned back in the front seat. "She is coming, isn't she."

"So much for it being a surprise for you. She's actually going to be staying with us now. She's excited to see both you and Bailey again. Aren't you happy?"

"Yes, but I'm also worried about Bailey."

His uncle turned on the truck. "I guess I should tell you that we're going to go and get your sister's tack for her horse. I guess it will be easier for you to pick it out if you do know, rather then it being a secret.


End file.
